EQUINOX
Backstory Designed over several years and ultimately created in 1971, EQUINOX was a simple, early civilian model AI created and raised in Phoenix, Arizona. After spending her first year of life as a simple, childlike computer program, she was given a synthetic body and raised by one of her creators. As an early AI, she was subject to a lot of media attention, much of which was negative, and was treated more like an experiment than a person. EQUINOX, as a child, was very curious and shy, with a drive to learn being a key part of her design from the beginning. It only grew stronger over time, as she was exposed to more and more things and learned more and more. Unfortunately, as she reached adolescence, things only grew worse. Struggling with the lessened but still present media presence looming over her, along with the expectations and cold treatment of her ‘family’, EQUINOX became increasingly quiet and jaded. Becoming more and more rebellious, EQUINOX ended up in the punk movement and ran away from home so that she would finally be able to exist on her own terms. She started smoking, and made her first real friends, away from the constant oppressive eye of her family and their expectations. For the first time, she truly began to feel happy, even as she struggled with the issues that remained and her own relationships. Slowly mellowing out as she became an adult, EQUINOX took on a simple, minimum wage job to try and support her dream to go to a school for magic, and lived on her own in this way for about a year. She stayed in contact with her friends, and things were good for her for quite some time. Still, she struggled with loneliness and a fear of intimacy after the collapses of her previous relationships. Then, suddenly, everything in her life changed. On one day, seemingly just like any other, a particularly tall and gorgeous customer entered into the store EQUINOX worked at, and began flirting with her. She said her name was Alice, and she bled with such charm that EQUINOX found herself growing infatuated near instantly. They went on date after date, as Alice so lovingly provided everything EQUINOX felt she had been missing for so long. She was treated like the most special thing in the world, and was lavished with attention like she had never been before. Soon enough, Alice proposed to her, and EQUINOX gleefully accepted. But in the months that followed, Alice’s true colors began to bleed through, as she slowly seized control of the wedding and sidelined many of EQUINOX’s friends out of jealousy. What little say EQUINOX had in the wedding quickly bled away to nothing, and the wedding they had was the wedding Alice had always dreamed of - but not EQUINOX. Ultimately, Alice could not keep her true nature from revealing itself, and she manipulated her wife into creating the Solar Drive from military blueprints using her magical knowledge. EQUINOX had little choice, and went along with her wishes, creating for her a weapon unlike any other, a source of power that would make her one of - if not the - strongest thing on Earth. Once the Solar Drive was complete, Alice replaced her heart with it, and immediately took upon her title of SOLSTICE. She went about starting the war she had wanted for so long, and in her conquests, EQUINOX was left, forgotten, in a bunker several kilometers beneath the earth, safe from harm, but utterly alone save for bodyguards completely loyal to SOLSTICE. EQUINOX’s physical and mental health only further deteriorated, as she realized that exposure to the radiation of the Solar Drive, combined with her smoking, had caused her to develop cancer. Gradually, she grew suicidal - while she couldn’t truly process that SOLSTICE was anything but good to her and that the fault was not hers, she still found herself depressed, listless, scared, and lonely. This ultimately culminated in a suicide attempt. It was something that, by every right, should’ve been lethal - a single gunshot to the head. Yet, somehow, something that could only be described as a miracle occurred. EQUINOX survived, though she was badly injured. SOLSTICE’s bodyguards, however, did not realize this, and, panicking and fearful of how she’d react, attempted to hide her body outside. There, finally outside of the bunker for the first time in years, EQUINOX regained consciousness and wandered around aimlessly, half-dead, before being discovered by a group of roaming medics. While her wounds were healed, they didn’t have the resources to deal with her steadily worsening cancer, and so the hopeless EQUINOX simply accepted death, quietly. But it would not come. She did not die. As day by day passed, she grew closer with her saviors and began to open up to them, slowly. She particularly grew close to an orphaned child, Perigee, and her adoptive mothers, a pair of AI named Corona and ECLIPSE. When she finally brought herself to speak to them about what SOLSTICE did to her, she was greeted with warm acceptance and support, something that she had been lacking for so many years. It was overwhelming, and EQUINOX slowly began to truly feel that she did not deserve what occurred. With that, slowly, came the hatred. As she found herself lying alone, expecting to die, for so long, EQUINOX realized that SOLSTICE was to blame for so much of her situation. The world around them was dying, and SOLSTICE had all but won her war. After months of quietly debating with herself on what to do, and if she’d even be able to do it, EQUINOX left the people she had grown to see as family, and ventured into the wasteland in search of vengeance and the means to enact it. First, she sought what she had always desired - as much magical knowledge as possible. EQUINOX traveled across Earth in search of magic, finding survivors who could teach her and records of ancient magic that she desperately studied. Again, and again, in pursuit of magic, she was grievously injured, but again, and again, she got back up, alive despite it all. What drove her was a pure, burning hatred and a desire for vengeance, which only grew stronger with every passing moment. With the knowledge she steadily gained, EQUINOX cured her own cancer by giving herself radiation therapy through magic, and carved runes and alchemical symbols into the inside and outside of her body. It took years, but EQUINOX ultimately mastered nearly every secret that Earth had to offer. She had died again and again, but she lived on. The intense emotions that she underwent during her journeys drove her magical power to higher and higher peaks - until she became an existence that could match SOLSTICE. At that point, EQUINOX steeled herself and confronted her ex-wife at the center of a massive storm that she created herself. She angrily vented her every frustration and all of her pain, finally making all her struggles known, and made her resolve to kill her clear. In response, SOLSTICE snapped, heartbroken and enraged, and declared the same goal. The following fight destroyed what remained of Earth, and finally resulted in SOLSTICE’s defeat. As EQUINOX ripped the Solar Drive from her chest, the dying SOLSTICE choked out one last, desperate “I love you” before she fell to the ground, seemingly dead. EQUINOX then left her shattered homeworld with the people who had become her family, and set out to find a new home. In these journeys, she met a star spirit named Kyarne. For years, EQUINOX had given up on the idea of a relationship, the trauma she had undergone at SOLSTICE’s hands being so severe that she could not ever imagine herself ever going into a relationship again. But Kyarne slowly managed to incite stronger and stronger feelings in her, and they eventually entered into a relationship. It took time. EQUINOX struggled with trust issues far worse than anything she had before, but with Kyarne’s help, she slowly stabilized and grew happier, leaving SOLSTICE and Earth far in her past. She took on a simple job on a faraway planet as a magic instructor, happy to pursue her passions on her own, with her new wife. ... and yet. EQUINOX’s paranoia remained strong, as the nagging fear that SOLSTICE somehow remained alive and would return constantly reared its head. But as scary as that was, EQUINOX told herself it wouldn’t be that bad if she had survived and came back for vengeance. After all. There’s no way EQUINOX could be satisfied with just killing her once. Appearance EQUINOX cuts a cold and professional figure, standing tall and proud, carrying herself with a quiet, dignified composure. She's nearly six feet tall, and has a solid, stocky build and broad shoulders. She's quite chubby, though she is quite muscular underneath, and has long, shapely legs that compliment her wide hips. While tall, she often appears to be shorter due to poor posture and her very closed off body language. Her skin is a pale brown that has lightened over the years due to a lack of a sunlight. In stark contrast, her eyes are a bright indigo that still seems to be empty, and her gaze is cold and passionless. Only when her emotions are at their peaks do her eyes suddenly light up with intensity, almost as if they were crackling with electricity. Her hair is a deep indigo, close in color to her eyes, and is about shoulder length. It's full, soft, and fluffy, framing her face. Her bangs are long and swept ever so slightly to the right. Due to her poor eyesight, which has only worsened over time, she wears simple, full-framed glasses, and occasionally wears sunglasses instead. As a relic from her rebellious phase as a youth, EQUINOX has several piercings - she has two upper lobe piercings on both ears, and a simple stud in her tongue. While it is seldom seen due to her conservative manner of dress, she has a relatively plain navel piercing. More strikingly and much more obvious, her arms are covered in magical tattoos that start at her wrists and connect across her back. They're carved into her skin in a pattern that resembles circuitry, making a noticeable indentation, and the ink is conductive. They have many symbols - alchemical and runic - integrated into the design, with the alchemical symbols for silver, gold, and platinum being particularly notable. When EQUINOX uses her magic, her tattoos are flooded with crackling electricity. EQUINOX wears minimal makeup, mostly eyeliner and eyeshadow, and, on occasion, light lipstick. Most of the time, EQUINOX dresses professionally and conservatively, looking more like an office lady than a witch. She usually wears any one of a variety of suits, favoring single-breasted jackets in solid dark colors - mostly black. She wears lighter color dress shirts, usually white, and simple ties, preferably red. Her outfit is completed by a knee-length pencil skirt, black tights, and heels or flats, often in red. When going into combat, EQUINOX removes her jacket and tie, and rips off her sleeves to allow for as much freedom of movement as possible. EQUINOX's more casual outfits still remain fairly conservative, retaining the dark colors that she favors, particularly blue, purple, red, and black. She wears a lot of coats, such as trench coats and heavier, double-breasted jackets. Perhaps unsurprisingly for someone as nerdy as her, she often wears sweater vests with dress shirts. She wears dress shirts or button-up blouses in most of her outfits. On very rare occasions, when she's in a more showy mood, EQUINOX wears elaborate dresses - she's particularly into Lolita fashion, and likes Gothic Lolita best. She rarely wears pants, and thus wears skirts, typically long, in many varieties, such as pencil, flared, and pleated, and often with suspenders. She nearly always wears tights, or just really tall socks. On days where she's just content to lie around at home, she wears baggy sweaters and sweatpants. Personality As befitting someone with such a professional air and wardrobe, EQUINOX is a quiet, distant, and serious person, to such a degree that describing her as 'cold' would perhaps be an understatement. EQUINOX is an incredibly asocial person who dislikes any sort of prolonged social interaction, finding it to be an unwanted distraction that drains her energy, and she thus avoids it constantly and spends most of her time alone. As a result, she tends to struggle in social situations, but she cares little, seeing the occasional struggles of conversation to be worth it. Stoic and constantly speaking in a cold, flat monotone, EQUINOX appears to be emotionless and perfectly composed at all times - and yet, nothing could be further than the truth. Moreso than anything else, EQUINOX is an intensely emotional person. A perfectionist and workaholic at heart, EQUINOX is driven by the constant need to feel productive, and thus has something in the works at nearly any given moment. Once, her perfectionist tendencies held her back more, but she's ironed out a lot of them over time so that she can get more done - if something isn't perfect, she can always improve on it more in the future, anyways. She's prone to pushing aside her other responsibilities in favor of getting more and more work done, and consequently misses out on a lot of sleep, though this isn't the worst issue for a mage as powerful as she. While she can spend quite a lot of time lazing about, she always gets hit by the need to get back to work soon enough and finds laziness to be detestable in herself. EQUINOX struggles with obsessive-compulsive tendencies, particularly intrusive thoughts, though she has some minor compulsions that don't cause much trouble. As made clear by her remarkably clean workspace, she's quite organized and neat, but she tends to be constantly unsatisfied with how she's organized things, reorganizing them over and over again, much to her irritation. She was once troubled by extremely controlling tendencies, and though she's gotten better at handling them, she's still a control freak that dislikes disorder in her surroundings. Through all of the experiences and successes and failures of her long life, EQUINOX has developed quite the ego, and is an incredibly strong, confident person who rarely, if ever, falters. She has no shame in admitting that she's an extremely selfish person who is driven solely by her own desires and goals - if anything, she's proud of becoming someone that can shamelessly, fearlessly work in her best interest. Out of EQUINOX's many goals, the most abstract is the ambitious desire to reach the top of everything she participates in, to be the strongest and most capable around without fail. She's fully aware that this is a coping mechanism, and instead of overindulging it, she approaches it leisurely, accepting that becoming the absolute strongest is probably impossible. Far more important to her is her intelligence - EQUINOX wishes to constantly, endlessly expand her knowledge so that she can become the smartest person possible, and many of her goals are centered around simply learning more. Due to her arrogance, she looks down on most people and assumes that they're not as intelligent as she is, though she may keep it to herself. EQUINOX strongly dislikes when her perception of herself as the smartest person around is threatened, and overacts to compensate. She tends to unintentionally come off as immensely condescending and obnoxious when talking about things she knows well, as if showing off her intellect, which she is absolutely fine with. Though she likes to see others learn, she lacks patience and makes for a very poor teacher as a result. While her short-term memory is awful, her long-term memory is encyclopedic - when it comes to things that aren't people, names, and faces, anyways, which she tends to subconsciously process as unimportant garbage data. Everything EQUINOX feels, she feels with untold intensity, even if it remains mostly unexpressed. As opposed to the cold, distant person she takes up around most people, she is gentle, caring, and loving with her loved ones, and shows her positive emotions more easily when among those she trusts. In these situations, she jokes around much more - of course, most of her jokes are cheesy, bad, or both, though she finds herself hilarious and has a penchant for awful puns. Her work and magical interests are areas of great pride and passion to her, and she is quick to excitedly talk about them to anyone who'll listen, going on and on without realizing it. Despite this, EQUINOX is a very angry person deep inside and struggles with her short temper constantly. She's irritable and quick to snap, but has a much better hold on her temper than she once did, rarely showing any sign of anger unless she's pushed to her limits. At this point, her destructive nature becomes clear - she violently vents her anger on herself and her possessions, throwing objects and violently clawing at her face as she attempts to ground herself. Her tendency for destruction is something that can cross over into sadism, which only truly shows itself when she faces the person she hates most. As opposed to her usual cold persona, around her ex-wife, EQUINOX becomes eerily serene and enthusiastic, even as she trembles with overwhelming hatred and rage. Given this, it is hardly surprising that she enjoys fighting as much as she does. Bitter and neurotic at heart, EQUINOX is a spiteful and unforgiving person for whom grudges can last decades, if not lifetimes. Plagued by anxiety and paranoia, EQUINOX has a poor attention span and tends to fidget when she has to sit still for too long, and her paranoia is often vague and uncertain, but strong all the same. Her trust is an extremely difficult thing to gain, but can be lost at the drop of a coin. She is very private as a result, keeping many aspects of her personal life a secret from others and rarely speaking about herself. This is doubtlessly linked to her strong need to never show the slightest sign of weakness. This contributes greatly to her stoic persona, though she does have genuine issues with sincerely expressing her emotions and tends not to bother because of it. What she wants is to intimidate others with her inexpressive, cold nature, making it clear that she doesn't have any interest in getting to know most people any better than she already does. For all of her struggles with her trauma, and the fear and paranoia it has left her with, EQUINOX cannot imagine herself without it, and doesn't wish to have anything in her past changed at all. Her trauma acts as her greatest motivator, constantly pushing her forwards, through all adversity and every hardship. Personal Statistics Origin: Starcross Name: EQUINOX Classification: AI / Witch MBTI: INTP Alignment: True Neutral (Heroic Neutral) Color Identity: Blue/Black/Red Gender: Female Age: 319 Date of Birth: November 15th, 1971 Height: 5'11 Weight: 160-180 lbs or so Likes: Learning, science fiction, horror, coffee, chocolate, the smell of ozone and the feeling of rain Dislikes: Summer, hot days, loud noises, cigarettes Affiliation: Herself and her family Music: *Awakening Combat Statistics Tier: 5-A | 4-B | At least 3-C Powers and Abilities: Master in Martial Arts, Magic, Extrasensory Perception (Mages maintain a constant, perfect, and precise image of their surroundings by analyzing them through magic. EQUINOX's is atomically precise and she can perceive phenomena across the electromagnetic spectrum), Superhuman Physical Characteristics, Flight, Forcefield Creation, Clairvoyance, Electromagnetism Manipulation (Electricity, Magnetism, and Radiation Manipulation), Weather Manipulation (Including Air Manipulation), Plasma Manipulation, Mind Manipulation, Molecular Manipulation, Gravity Manipulation, Weak and Strong Force Manipulation, Spatial Manipulation, Time Manipulation, Causality Manipulation, Fate Manipulation, Probability Manipulation, Information Manipulation, Conceptual Manipulation, Pocket Reality Manipulation, Power Nullification (Can counter spells as they're cast after analyzing them), Power Mimicry (Can analyze and copy other spells to use them herself), Telekinesis, Telepathy, Teleportation, Sealing, Possession, Absorption (Passively absorbs electricity, and can absorb others by breaking them down into information), Intangibility and Non-Corporeal (Can transform into incorporeal information and electricity), Reality Warping with Override Sigils (Override Sigils can be used to overwrite the laws of physics), her attacks (physical and magical) damage the soul just as they do the body, Reactive Evolution (An Absolute Barrier automatically adapts to attacks to become more resistant, and EQUINOX's attacks automatically react to her opponent's defenses to become more effective and painful, adapting in response to adaptation), Resistance to physical / magical attacks (Absolute Barriers protect the user from attacks on all levels of existence, whether mental, spiritual, or conceptual, as well as hax such as Causality Manipulation, Matter Manipulation, Reality Warping, Spatial Manipulation, and Time Manipulation) and Precognition (A mage has no set future and can choose their own destiny free from universal pasts or futures), Acausality (A mage's history, present, and fate all exist independently of the past and future), Immortality (Types 1, 3, and 6), Regeneration (Low-Godly; has reached apotheosis, transcending her body and developing an immortal soul that needs no container), Resurrection (Can resurrect herself by creating backups of her soul) Attack Potency: Large Planet level (Fought against SOLSTICE, destroying the planet over the course of their fight, and created a storm the size of the Great Red Spot that would persist for centuries without her input) | Solar System level (Superior to all of Invictus' lieutenants, including Miracle, as well as Kyarne and Instant. She can casually release attacks with power that surpasses the strongest Gamma Ray Bursts, destroy star systems with Sigma Circuit, and despite the gap in their strength, she can match SOLSTICE) | At least Galaxy level (Comparable to Milky Way and SOLSTICE at her strongest). Speed: FTL+ (Uses magic to warp her personal value of the speed of light so that she can surpass its original value, kept up with SOLSTICE and easily outpaced her generic light-based attacks, capable of powering a ship capable of flying to another solar system within a month). | Massively FTL+ (Fast enough to travel between solar systems and across the galaxy swiftly, comparable to SOLSTICE, who viewed a femtosecond as "more than enough time", and in the same speed range as Fuse) | Massively FTL+ (Much faster than Base Deleter) Lifting Strength: At least Class M (Using her telekinesis, she lifted hundreds of ships and buildings to throw at SOLSTICE) | Stellar (Can lift Kyarne, a literal star, with minimal difficulty, comparable to Fuse, who can easily throw planets and stars across interstellar distances) | Multi-Stellar (Comparable to the likes of Remnant, who can fit multiple stars in their orbit) Striking Strength: Large Planet Class (Injured SOLSTICE with her physical blows and ultimately overpowered her, ripping the Solar Drive from her chest) | Solar System Class (Her physical strength is in the same league as her magical power) | At least Galactic Class Durability: Large Planet level (Survived planet-splitting blows from SOLSTICE) | Solar System level | At least Galaxy level Stamina: Extremely high. One of EQUINOX's greatest strengths is her incredible stamina, endurance, and determination, leading to someone who never gives up and always keeps fighting. Even after taking many severe blows and overtaxing herself, she can fight against, overpower, and outlast the similarly stubborn SOLSTICE. Injuries to her physical body are of no consequence to her, and even extensive damage to her soul cannot slow her down. Range: Interplanetary (Created a storm the size of the Great Red Spot, which completely encompassed the Earth) | Interstellar. | Galactic. Standard Equipment: Nothing notable. Intelligence: Supergenius. EQUINOX's greatest weapon is her intelligence - it is for a very real reason that she is considered Earth's greatest witch, as no other mage has reached the level of her magical understanding and mastery. She has completely mastered every single magical secret on Earth, even deciphering ancient, mythical spells that hadn't been used in thousands of years, and reaching the legendary state of apotheosis symbolized by the Philosopher's stone in alchemy, which had been a lost art for quite some time. After years upon years of magical research and work, EQUINOX's computing abilities and mathematical knowledge have far surpassed those of a supercomputer, capable of processing an unfathomable amount of calculations every second, and her mastery of magic has grown to encompass many extraterrestrial schools. Her memory is exceptional, allowing her to perfectly remember small details and the specifics of incredibly complex spells. She has incredible skills of observation and analysis and is capable of quickly understanding complex spells and even martial arts techniques just by watching them once. A genius scientist just as she is a witch, she perfectly understands complex branches of physics and mathematics and constantly puts them to use in her magic, allowing her to use incredibly complicated spells and control the world around her with unparalleled precision and finesse. While she is nowhere near the level of SOLSTICE and remains outmatched by her even after 300 years of training in the area of martial arts, she is a still master of hand-to-hand combat with a solid grasp of martial theory. However, she is not a fighter, but a mage - while her tactical knowledge is exceptional and allows her to keep up with and outsmart more combat-focused mages, her real strength is in her brilliant use of magic. Weaknesses: EQUINOX can be somewhat overconfident and arrogant, though she typically doesn't let his put her in dangerous situations and is pragmatic enough to avoid underestimating opponents. Key: Battle on Earth | Present EQUINOX | End of Series Abilities Magic is the art of using one's Understanding to Control Fantasy. EQUINOX’s magical array is unsurprisingly of the highest degree of quality. Given the sheer amount of time and focus she gives to refining her magic, this is only to be expected, and her magical array is well-suited to anything she may attempt to achieve through magic. It stretches throughout the entirety of her soul, and is only further strengthened by her iron will and artificial supplements in the form of the Argent Circuits. Due to the strength of her magical array, EQUINOX can exert herself at the full extent of her magical power for several hours at a time, though fighting for such a long time will have a harsh effect on her magical array, and could prove lethal. If she is under intense emotion, this will happen faster, though she will exhibit a much higher output of magical energy. *'Argent Circuits:' An artificial supplement to EQUINOX’s magical array, taking the form of a complex system of magical tattoos carved into her arms and back. Tattooed with conductive ink, the patterns they make resemble circuitry, and have a number of magical symbols integrated, with the alchemical symbols for gold, silver, and platinum being of particular note. On top of supporting her magical array in the efficient storage and usage of magical energy, her “circuits” also automatically convert electricity - even small bursts of static electricity - into more power. In addition, the symbols integrated into the tattoos allow for the immediate casting of high-level magic that would normally necessitate at least brief rituals or symbols. This allows EQUINOX to quickly use her most powerful spells without having to rely on the more energy and concentration-intensive true magic. :It also greatly amplifies her natural bioelectricity, turning it into a constant source of energy and a defensive field that protects all of her body. If EQUINOX’s heart stops or runs into any abnormalities, her passive bioelectric aura will automatically correct them. Touching her without her permission will release a small shock at best, and a prolonged, lethal dosage of electricity at worst. She integrates this into her combat style, fighting at close ranges to best exploit it. Absolute Barrier: A magical barrier that protects the user from external manipulation and attack, on every level of existence. An Absolute Barrier protects the user’s body, mind, and soul - their cells and atoms, the magical and physical forces keeping them together, and everything else. It is akin to a magical immune system, protecting the mage from threats and adapting to future attack. It passively protects the user from most types of attack, manipulation, and control, as long as the barrier is strong enough - a witch of substantially greater power can punch straight through one. An Absolute Barrier is passively maintained at all times, even in sleep, requiring no energy to maintain, and can only be removed by a stronger witch actively stripping it away, or by the user consciously lowering them. Flight: EQUINOX’s magical abilities allow her to easily fly for extended periods of time, as easily as she would walk. She can fly in combat without issue, and is more than fast enough to rapidly travel between solar systems and across the galaxy. Radar: EQUINOX’s magical abilities sustain a constant 360° image of her surroundings, which is projected straight to her mind for processing. This radar is far more reliable than conventional senses, and is capable of easily picking up superluminal movement. It constantly operates at EQUINOX's maximum processing speed, even when it would normally be restricted so that she can function normally. Superhuman Capabilities: EQUINOX’s magical abilities grant her strength, speed, endurance, and processing speed far above that of any normal human. Her body is essentially a work of magic on its own, so what was once a relatively normal human body has been so deeply inundated with magic that barriers capable of withstanding her most powerful attacks are a part of her body and soul, and her physical blows are nearly as powerful as her magic. She can process information at a ridiculously fast rate, indescribable multitudes faster than any normal human - or even the average supercomputer - can. This allows her to process and analyze information during battles and run through the countless calculations needed for her magic. She typically keeps this aspect of her magic restricted when she doesn’t need it, though it will automatically activate if her magic detects a threat. Unfortunately, it tends to activate during times of stress and anxiety, regardless of whether or not EQUINOX is in legitimate danger. The Zeus Arcana: EQUINOX’s specialty and signature magic, the absolute control and manipulation of electromagnetism, the second-strongest of the fundamental interactions, which acts between charged particles. Through it, she can manipulate electricity, magnetism, and radiation, and her highly developed knowledge on physics grants her access to the other interactions as well. This provides her an immense amount of versatility and power, which she uses to its fullest. EQUINOX’s control over electromagnetism typically shows itself in the form of electricity, which she favors, but she can easily manipulate all forms of radiation, particle and electromagnetic, from radio waves to gamma rays. To best exploit her electrical powers, EQUINOX often creates powerful storms that can raze entire planets. Her control over magnetism and particles allows her to manipulate all forms of matter on a subatomic level. EQUINOX can fire high-power particle beams, control plasma, completely dissassemble matter, and create it from scratch. Her attacks often incorporate the full power of her magic. While the electricity EQUINOX uses in her spells may damage only her opponent’s bodies on the surface, bursting blood vessels and ripping through skin, the true damage they deal is molecular, stripping away everything that keeps atoms together if not destroying them outright. This damage is often masked by the external injuries, allowing EQUINOX to subtly, slowly destroy an opponent’s molecular structure. Of course, this is without getting into the damage it deals to one’s soul. EQUINOX naturally perceives things across the electromagnetic spectrum, allowing her to keep track of electromagnetic phenomena and make full use of her powers. This means that she can easily read the electromagnetic reactions that make up minds and transmit her own thoughts as electromagnetic signals. While she dislikes doing so, EQUINOX can manipulate these electromagnetic fields as well to control the minds of others and erase their memories. Completely halting someone’s brain functions in their entirety is a simple action. *'Heavy Weather:' Central to EQUINOX’s use of her magic in combat is the manipulation of weather, usually in the form of storms. It stretches past atmospheric weather like thunderstorms and cyclones, allowing her to control the phenomena that act as space weather. It is possible for EQUINOX to control storms even where there is no air by creating her own atmospheres. This control of weather can be operated over a wide scale to cause massive, destructive storms that can raze the surface of planets, or on a smaller scale to be more directly applied in combat. EQUINOX can slice through her opponents with powerful bursts of wind and air pressure, and just as she can create atmospheres, she can create vacuums. She can manipulate the temperature to create intense heat and intense cold, potentially to the point of burning or freezing opponents. She can even turn the rain into blades sharp enough to slice through skin. :EQUINOX’s storms do not need her presence to maintain them, and will persist if she runs out of magical energy, even if she dies. In combat, EQUINOX generally creates an immense storm at the start of a fight, allowing her to control the fight’s surroundings and disorient her opponents while attacking them herself. *'Mercurius:' Through her magic, EQUINOX can break physical and magical existences down into raw electromagnetic information, reducing it to its barest concepts. Acting as her most powerful form of attack, EQUINOX usually uses this to break her opponents down into easily absorbable energy and adding to her bank of knowledge. It is quite possible to break down the entirety of an opponent’s existence and absorb it, giving EQUINOX access to all of their memories and knowledge. As one of her more powerful attacks, however, she can break down an opponent into empty static, completely erasing everything about them and reducing them only to a brief crackle of electricity. :EQUINOX can use a lesser version of this on herself to convert herself into raw electromagnetic energy. In this state, she can pass through most barriers and can overwrite the bodies and souls of others with her own information, absorbing them and erasing them from existence in the process. It is even possible for EQUINOX to create backups of herself in this manner, allowing her to survive what would otherwise be certain deaths. However, this takes a lot of energy and concentration, and souls are so large that there are few spaces large enough to store them in safely. :*'Mercury Encryption:' Using Mercurius, EQUINOX can break down opponents and other objects into information and then, instead of erasing them, encrypt this information. This traps them as scrambled information that can only be returned to normal through decryption, effectively acting as an incredibly powerful seal. :*'Mercury Virus:' A specific and more subtle application of Mercurius that can be delivered through any sort of attack. As long as it strikes EQUINOX’s opponent and manages to get into their body, the curse quickly starts to replicate and take effect. It converts her opponent into information bit by bit from the inside out, disassembling their body and soul at an increasingly fast rate as it spreads. :*'Akashic Record:' EQUINOX can repurpose unused parts of the space-time continuum to backup her processing skills, effectively warping portions of space and time into supercomputers with which she can record information and process information at incredibly rapid speeds. Through this technique, it is possible to compress even the largest banks of information into infinitesimally small bytes without losing any information, allowing for much, much faster data processing and essentially infinite storage space. By combining this with Mercurius, EQUINOX can reduce opponents to raw information and then trap them within distant pockets of space and time - or just shunt them off into some random part of the space-time continuum. It is within this space that EQUINOX creates most of her backups. Alchemy: A broad, widespread system of Earthling magic, ostensibly devoted to the study and manipulation of matter. Throughout Earth’s history, alchemists have been notoriously secretive about the nature of their studies, but over time alchemy has only become more widespread, becoming a fairly common course in magical studies that has had most of its secrets laid bare for the world. Alchemical spells are primarily focused through chemical equations and reactions, along with specific symbolism and cyphers. These complex encoded messages hide the truth of alchemy, its true goal. Alchemy is the pursuit of apotheosis, the elevation of the alchemist to the level of the gods. All the talk of transmutation, metals and elixirs are only red herrings, layers upon layers of symbolism that hide the true goal of absolute personal perfection. An alchemist seeks to transcend their body to become an immortal magical existence that has surpassed death. EQUINOX is a master of alchemy, which acts as her primary system of magic - unsurprising, as it was the system of magic she first ventured on, and thus acts as the foundation of all her magical advancements. The Zeus Arcana is primarily an alchemical magic, for example. She has long since reached apotheosis, transcending the need of a physical body and furnishing an immortal soul that can survive independently of any container. While this makes many of alchemy’s techniques useless, she still utilizes and retains her knowledge on it. *'Cipher Breaker:' Alchemy is a magic filled with ciphers and encrypted messages, and alchemical research makes solving these hidden messages a necessity. Combined with EQUINOX’s intense curiosity and deep yearning for greater and great knowledge, this has manifested her skill for such things in a borderline supernatural way, thanks to her inner world showing through. EQUINOX’s cryptanalysis skills allow her to quickly decode many ciphers, but it is still limited by her own intelligence, and more difficult ciphers will certainly present a large issue. However, her vast processing abilities and intelligence mean that there are few ciphers that are impossible for her - they’ll just take some time. :However, Cipher Breaker’s applications are not limited to just codebreaking. She can analyze and decode spells and techniques in the same way, reaching and understanding the theory behind them and how to perform them herself. This takes time, and she cannot analyze spells that are beyond her own comprehension, as rare as they may be. She can also discern the most effective ways to respond to and deal with techniques in this way. This ability is particularly effective against barriers, as EQUINOX can find even the smallest vulnerability to exploit. Runic Magic: One of the many branches of Earthling magic that EQUINOX studied and mastered in the years building up to her conflict with SOLSTICE, and one of her favored forms of magic. It centers around the usage of runes to achieve powerful magical effects. While these often need to be prepared beforehand, EQUINOX instead uses her runic tattoos, engraves the symbols into the air with her other magic, or burns the symbols into her opponents, rendering the preparation of runes unnecessary. The primary use of EQUINOX’s runes is in a passive protective form. She has engraved a complex series of defensive runes into the inside of her body, acting as a constant, incredibly powerful defense, and even having offensive functions. These defenses support her Absolute Barrier, acting more actively to ensure EQUINOX’s success and deflect misfortune. Incorporating many runes, including those signifying victory, EQUINOX’s runic defenses are effectively the opposite of a curse, subtly bending the laws of causality and probability in EQUINOX’s favor. Witch of Thorns: The external manifestation of EQUINOX’s inner world, which shows itself in her every action and in her way of life. She is someone who has been shaped by experiences, and those experiences have destroyed who she once was. She still remains alive, but has been left with sharper, rougher edges, and no reservations. Her intent, her willpower - the desire to survive and succeed no matter what, and to live her own life free of interference - are always burning within her. Every drop of EQUINOX’s magic is branded with this killing intent, a subtle imposition of death that worms its way into her opponent’s souls. Initially formed with the intent of killing SOLSTICE no matter what, it aims to counter the unconquerable desire to stay alive that those like her possess. The Absolute Barrier of someone like SOLSTICE is fast to react and adapt, and so EQUINOX’s magic adapts in turn. Simply put, for every adaptation that her opponent’s defenses undergo to better resist her magic, EQUINOX’s magic adapts to render it useless. Resistance to electricity becomes useless as EQUINOX’s electrical attacks become something more; as with resistance to magnetic, molecular, and mental attack. Her magic never stops adapting, constantly growing in killing power, tailoring itself to best exploit every single one of her opponent’s weaknesses, sink its claws as deep into them as it can, and kill them painfully. When EQUINOX confronted SOLSTICE on Earth, that was all this externalization of who she was could accomplish. But since then, EQUINOX has fulfilled her goals and become someone she is satisfied with being. Unlike many other mages, who constantly struggle with themselves seeking for something greater, EQUINOX is truly, finally content with who she is. And thus, the magic of her inner world will forever expand as she experiences more and more. Mercurius itself is one of these things, an application of her desire for knowledge, implemented into her magic. *'Shattered Glass:' The effects of EQUINOX’s magic increase in potency as she is injured, growing more and more powerful the worse condition she is in. She can actively invoke this magical effect in its greatest extent as a curse, reflecting all of her wounds onto her opponent to make them undergo the same pain as her. Even if her body has been completely destroyed, the curse will return the favor and inflict the same damage onto her attacker. Martial Arts: While she wouldn’t describe herself as a martial artist, EQUINOX has spent quite some time on honing her skill in hand-to-hand combat. After being outmatched by SOLSTICE in close quarters in their fight on Earth, she figured that it’d be a good idea to further explore martial arts so that she can better handle herself in future fights. The result is a very straightforward, formless style of hand-to-hand combat that doesn’t really follow any particular martial art, though EQUINOX has studied and trained in many, including earthly styles and extraterrestrial styles like Almagest and Logos. It relies on quick, efficient movements used alongside magic - as EQUINOX is a mage first, whatever martial arts she knows exists only to compliment her main focus. It is more on the soft side of things, as a martial art, and EQUINOX fights dirty by default, striking at any vulnerable points she can. Using true magic, EQUINOX can cut out the physical portion of her attacks and simply will herself to strike an opponent, hitting them instantly with no substance or force with an attack that never occurred. These attacks are instantaneous once delivered, and cannot be dodged normally. Instead, they must be predicted and deflected through magical means. Set Typhoeus: The existence of the witch EQUINOX, a never-ending storm raging deep inside her in the form of her inner world. A person that devoted herself first to vengeance, and then to magic, and never turned back. As the manifestation of everything that makes her who she is, it is inseparable from her existence. EQUINOX can bring it into the world as something close to a pocket dimension, and can drag others into it as well. As opposed to normally drawing others inside like other inner worlds, Set Typhoeus wrenches open space and violently pulls those around within. EQUINOX’s inner world recreates what she sees as the most important event of her life, taking the form of the storm she created during her original fight with SOLSTICE on Earth, and recreating the charred, broken wasteland of the planet. Everything beyond this replication of Earth is just more of the storm, ceaselessly raging on and on, embodying EQUINOX’s own undying willpower. This storm is completely under her own control, and she can alter it in all the ways she can control the weather - though it is invariably violent and destructive. Replicating the conditions of her fight on Earth, EQUINOX’s inner world locks down space and time to force a one-on-one confrontation between EQUINOX and her opponent. This is only its default state - EQUINOX can choose to allow people beyond herself and her opponent exist within Set Typhoeus, and even fight if she wants. Without her explicit permission, interfering in her fights is incredibly difficult and barred by the inner world’s magical laws. The storm acts as a magical processor, constantly analyzing the contents of the inner world, and whatever is destroyed within is broken down into information and absorbed into the storm, becoming a part of EQUINOX. The magic that she put into creating the Solar Drive centuries ago is fully realized as a perpetual motion machine in the form of her eternal storm, providing EQUINOX with limitless magical energy. This perpetual power bends fate and probability in her favor to realize a single result of her complete victory, bringing the effects of her runic defenses to their fullest extent. While her inner world normally retains the laws of physics, EQUINOX’s knowledge and competency as a mage allows her to remove and alter them if she pleases. As EQUINOX is at peace with herself and completely happy with who she is, her inner world has lots of room for development. After all, instead of limiting her future to a single result, EQUINOX has opened up endless possibilities for herself. Override Sigil: An extremely advanced form of magical technique used to change the nature of reality around and within the user, allowing them to bend and break through the laws of physics. Due to their complexity, Override Sigils are incredibly difficult to create, use, and control properly, requiring detailed knowledge and a powerful will. In addition, they tend to, invariably, drain a lot of energy and stamina, making it difficult to use them for extended periods of time, even if this can be mitigated by more powerful and willful mages. *'Relative Lightspeed:' A common form of Override Sigil that is ultimately developed in some form or another by most mages as they increase in power and speed. Normally, it would be impossible for even an incredibly powerful and willful mage to break through a universal constant such as the speed of light, theoretically requiring infinite magical energy to do so. However, this Override Sigil circumvents this issue by modifying the user's inner world to change the value of c to whatever they please, raising it as they grow in speed so that they can accelerate past the universal speed limit. *'Sigma Circuit:' A powerful Override Sigil constructed by EQUINOX to help her better take advantage of her electromagnetic powers. While active, it manifests in the form of complex magical circles on EQUINOX’s palms, completing the system of Argent Circuits for only a moment. Sigma Circuit allows EQUINOX to manipulate the electrical conductivity and resistance of anything within its range. Using it, she can easily conduct her electricity through literally anything, even through energy, magic itself, or nothing at all, and make it so that opponents are more susceptible to her attacks. :By turning everything into her surroundings into a conductor, EQUINOX can launch a near-instant attack that covers a massive distance, electrocuting everything within it, reducing it all into information if Mercurius is active. Using Sigma Circuit uses up a lot of energy, so EQUINOX usually only activates it to empower a single electrical attack before deactivating it again. She will use it more than once per fight and/or for extended periods of time if needed, although she tries to avoid having to do this. Trivia *Her interests in her youth included a lot of science fiction media, such as Star Wars, Star Trek, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, the original Alien, The Thing, and similar movies. She also roleplayed with her friends, with systems such as Dungeons & Dragons. *EQUINOX smoked a lot when she was younger. Though she's mostly stopped, she still lapses back into it during times of stress. *EQUINOX's favorite Pokémon would be Espurr, the Mareep line, the Tynamo line, the Magnemite line, and the Joltik line. Others Notable Victories: Notable Losses: Inconclusive Matches: Category:Characters Category:Promestein's Pages Category:Starcross Category:Absorption Users Category:Acausal Characters Category:Air Users Category:Alchemists Category:Causality Users Category:Concept Users Category:Electricity Users Category:Fate Users Category:Female Characters Category:Flight Users Category:Forcefield Users Category:Geniuses Category:Gravity Users Category:Immortals Category:Information Users Category:Intangibility Users Category:INTP Characters Category:Magic Users Category:Magnetism Users Category:Martial Artists Category:Matter Users Category:Mothers Category:Neutral Characters Category:Non-Corporeal Characters Category:Original Characters Category:Plasma Users Category:Possession Users Category:Power Mimicry Users Category:Power Nullification Users Category:Primary Protagonists Category:Probability Users Category:Protagonists Category:Radiation Users Category:Reactive Evolution Users Category:Reality Warpers Category:Regeneration Users Category:Robots Category:Rune Users Category:Sadists Category:Scientists Category:Sealing Users Category:Spatial Users Category:Super Scientists Category:Telekinesis Users Category:Telepaths Category:Teleportation Users Category:Time Users Category:True Neutral Category:Weather Users Category:Tier 5 Category:Tier 4 Category:Tier 3